Throughout the years, WrestleMania has provided the stage for some of the most iconic moments in wrestling history. Legendary superstars such as Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock have all cemented their legacies with show-stealing performances at the ‘Granddaddy Of Them All’.
But sometimes plans aren’t always what they were originally intended to be. Famously Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair seemed set for a titanic battle in the Hoosier Dome at WrestleMania 8 before a change of heart saw Flair drop his WWE Championship to ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage in a classic whilst Hogan instead headlined the show with ‘The Ruler Of The World’ Sid Justice.
WWE’s original plans for WrestleMania 39 differed greatly
According to a recent report from Fightful Select, the main event picture for this year’s Wrestlemania 39 in Los Angeles originally had a somewhat different look to it.
As late as December of last year plans internally for RAW Women’s Championship bout saw Bianca Belair defending against current SmackDown Superstar Charlotte Flair. It was expected that Flair would switch to the red brand to challenge the ‘EST of WWE’ but the script appears to have changed at the turn of the year with Ronda Rousey taking January off at ‘The Queen’ instead swiftly installed as SmackDown Women’s Champion.
Flair will now face off against Women’s Royal Rumble winner Rhea Ripley for the SmackDown gold, with Belair defending against ‘The Empress Of Tomorrow’ Asuka for the RAW Women’s Championship. Speculation suggests that one of these two bouts will also headline night 1 of the event on 1st April at SoFI Stadium.
Reports also suggest that the highly anticipated Cody Rhodes vs Roman Reigns clash for the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship may not have happened at all.
Speculation was rife until recently that Reigns could be embroiled in a marquee match with the returning Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, which would likely have seen him drop one of his Championships to focus on ‘The Great One’.
Discussions internally suggested that a title match had been listed as Seth Rollins vs Cody Rhodes or Drew McIntyre for night one of Wrestlemania, however, with Johnson remaining focused on Hollywood for now plans were nixed and instead Rollins will battle Logan Paul in Los Angeles. McIntyre issued a challenge to Gunther for a WWE Intercontinental Championship bout last Friday night on SmackDown with Rhodes now set to challenge Reigns for all the gold on April 2nd.